In the past two years, and more with the coronavirus crisis, contactless and mobile payments have skyrocketed in stores. It’s a more convenient way to pay, and it’s making its way by leaps and bounds. As you know in the case of mobiles it is necessary to have NFC, but if it is not your case, what can you do ?.
Because far from what it may seem, although there are more and more new mobiles that have NFC, there are not so many who enjoy this connectivity among those that are already available in the market.
Are you sure your mobile does not have NFC?
You may have a mobile phone with NFC connectivity and you don’t know it, in order to verify that this is the case there are apps that tell us if this NFC connectivity is present. Once we have checked whether or not there is connectivity, we can try one of these options to pay with the mobile.
Wearables with NFC, the best option
If your mobile does not have NFC connectivity, an excellent alternative to have this is to get a wearable that does. There are both activity bracelets and smart watches that make up this one. Many of them are compatible with Google Pay , especially those that have Wear OS as an operating system, or the Samsung that use Samsung Pay .
The third most widespread payment system is Apple Pay , and it is especially useful if you have a veteran iPhone, in this case it is best to get an Apple Watch. The payment will continue to be made through your mobile, in the same way that it would be done if it had NFC, the difference is that this chip is in the wearable, so at the time of purchase, it communicates with your phone and that makes the payment through the mobile payments app compatible with your bank.
Make sure your bank is compatible
In mobile payments there are basic requirements, the first is that the hardware of our mobile or wearable is compatible with NFC as we have seen.
But this is not enough, since we must first verify that our bank is compatible with payments of this type . It also depends on the bank, they are compatible with some platforms or others. There are some that are only compatible with Samsung Pay, others with Google Pay, as well as Apple Pay, it all depends on the negotiation of the banks with these platforms.
Bizum
Although it is not a system with which we can pay in stores in a generalized way, there may be some that do allow it, especially in craft or similar businesses, it is in some way a mobile payment method for your mobile . Also after this type of payments with NFC it is one of the most widespread methods among Spanish banks. Virtually the vast majority allow us to make mobile payments to other people.
It is a kind of immediate transfer with which we can transfer up to 500 euros instantly to anyone who has a phone number. That’s the only thing necessary to send him the money. An ideal method to be able to pay for dinners, birthdays and anything else that arises without having to move cash.
Can you pay with QR codes?
It is an option that has been studied in recent years, but has not finally had the path of other technologies such as NFC. Payments with QR code consist of the generation of a QR code by the establishment, which is scanned with our mobile , and transforms it into a payment through a gateway similar to those we have seen before.
It is known that Google is exploring the possibility of being able to pay using QR codes , at least we have known for a couple of years, but there have been no developments in that regard and QR codes today are not an extended method of payment.
